Babies born ~ September 16-30th 2010 #2

[CoNNiE_Melb]

Bec - I hope Issac is ok, I'm sure he will be, I dont think infacol is too dangerous. Don't feel too bad I have almost drowned George twice in the bath. He wriggles so bloody much he ends up putting half his face under the water and I freak!

Fuzzy - No dandruff, but my hair is coming out in massive clumps. Everytime I put my hands through my hair, I get a handful!

George was weighed again today (every 2 weeks so we know how much Zantac to give him)... he's 7.3kgs! The doctor said he has definitely caught up for his age. Based on his corrected age (when he should have been born), he would be in the 97th percentile. If he went to full term he would have been 9-10 pounds... OUCH!!
Anyway, his paed has said to try introducing him to solids in 2 weeks time. Basically because he will probably start to need something more than milk soon, because it could help the silent reflux, and because we dont want to hold him back because he was prem his whole life. I can't believe he is 4 months old today and will be almost 5 months when we start the solids. Time flies. His development is definitely still at the rate of a 10 week old though. He isn't holding on to toys as yet and hasn't rolled at all. He is still at the stage of realising his hands are the best sucking tools in the world!

[fuzzy]

Connie - yep Chloe is 11 weeks old tomorrow and has just discovered her fists. Cant quite figure out how to keep them in her mouth yet tho. So cute to watch. That is a great weight!! He certainly has caught up LOL. Cant believe you are at the solids stage already. I guess we will be there too in about 7 weeks. Yikes. Let us know how you get on. I bet he will love it x

[Chuckie]

Hi girls,

Gosh it's soo hard to keep up with all the chat in here, will give it a go.

Bec - don't worry about the Infocol - it would be super safe otherwise they wouldn't let little bubs have it. I'm glad you had fun in Perth - I don't know how you do everything on your own - I take my hat off to you! Sounds like it was a good thing you moved out of the house where your mum's partner was - what a jerk!

Dory - How annoying of your DH! Everything does seem soo much worse when you are tired as well - I find myself getting really irratable and wonder why, then I remember that I am stuffed and try to calm down. My DH ALWAYS suggests Pearl is hungry! Always!!!

Fuzzy - no hair loss here but did have dandruff - I reckon its gone away now though.

Hi to everyone else (sorry in a bit of a hurry)

AFM - someone was asking about DTD well we have twice and it REALLY hurt both times like worse than the first time ever!?! v strange since I have a c-sec. We haven't had a go for weeks because I have still been struggling with this vasospasm thing and have enough pain to deal with. I reckon I will just bite the bullet when we do start again and go for it everynight for a few weeks until I get past the pain. Pearl had her first bottle the other day when I went to a meeting and was out for 7hrs - she was fine and I expressed - all good. DH then did the middle of the night feed Sat night and I reckon he will do it once a week on the weekends so I can try to have a sleep.

I have now gotten onto another LC who has put me on a very weird diet to try to change my milk because (this is where it gets complicated) Her theory is that Pearl's tummy is upset by my milk (and has been damaged) so towards the end of every feed (when she is in pain) she chews on my nipple causing nipple damage which causes the vasospasm!!! will see how it goes but I am very limited with what I can eat (even heaps of fruit and veg are out, as is dairy and any processed foods and a bunch of other stuff. I also have to eat meat at every meal! Pearl is doing well and hopefully when her tummy heals I can slowly introduce some foods back into my diet.

[PanthaLily]

Just a quick question from me.... do your bubs bring stuff up after almost every feed?
Lottie does. Most times it's just a mouthful or so, but she's has had a couple of power-spews.
She's also been pretty unsettled, both on and off the boob. She'll feed for a little while then just start screaming/pulling at my boob.
I've got scratch marks all over my neck from one of her upset episodes. I get punched/scratched/kicked in the boobs while she's feeding a lot too.

I'm just trying to figure out if this is just a phase/unsettled period, or if it's something I should bring up with our GP (no rashes or temps thank god!).

Me... yeah, I'm not doing too good. Not so much the guilt now, more sliding down the depression scale again *sigh*
We'll have to have a GP appointment within the next couple of weeks to review DH and I'm planning on asking for some help then.
Was kinda hoping I'd dodged the PND bullet - doesn't look like I have.... wow, I think that's the first time I've actually admitted that I'm depressed again.

Big hugs for everyone, thank you all for being so wonderfully supportive and understanding. It's nice to have people to talk to that *get* it.

Bec - I can just imagine how awful you would have felt! How's Isaac now?

[bec293]

thanks for making me feel a bit better about the infacol thing. I still feel terrible though, and I know I'm going to be super careful about checking doses in future! When I first realised it scared me so much. I don't know why they put such a big syringe in the pack when the doses are so tiny. But still I should have read it properly in the first place. Isaac was fine, and even after so much Infacol he didn't even burp! He did a weird spew afterwards though, it was really thick and bubbly. I think that was the infacol coming back out maybe.

Pantha - I've been meaning to say I totally understand about the c-section, I kind of feel the same way. I know all that matters is that Isaac is here and he is healthy, but I feel very sad that I will never get to give birth the normal way, the way that should have come naturally but didn't. It's totally normal to feel disappointed. So sorry to hear about your depression, and it must be so hard to admit it
Isaac has been really unsettled as well, pulling off when feeding then wriggling etc. I put it down to the week 8-9 wonder weeks though. No big spews, just little bits after feeds.

Connie - wow great weight for George! I'm scared of doing that too, dropping Isaac in the bath. I bath him in the laundry tub, and he's started pushing his feet against the side so that his head hits the other side if I don't hold him properly.. very hard to do in slippery bath water.

Chuckie - You're so lucky to get your DH to do the middle of the night feed! I'm so jealous. That sucks about the weird diet, hopefully it helps.

fuzzy - Was it Chloe who rolled over? Sorry I think I remember reading it somewhere! Isaac hasn't done that yet but I think it's not far away.. during tummy time he lifts his bum right up and pushes off with one leg and looks like he's about to topple over sideways.. so cute. He's started reaching and swiping at things with his arms and making lots of new noises which apparently is what this wonder week is all about.

Tomorrow mum is taking Isaac for the afternoon to give me time to study or sleep. I don't know how I feel about it. Usually on Tuesdays she comes to my house, but today she said she will take him to her place (around the corner). I don't even like him being in a different room from me, let alone a different house! I will get heaps of study done though, as even when mum is looking after him here I still feed him and keep checking on him and talking to mum etc. It's going to be weird to be away from him

[belfie]

Aah so much to say & so little time to say it! Hi everyone, have been reading but haven't had time to post... trying to do xmas shopping etc.

Just a quick question from me.... do your bubs bring stuff up after almost every feed?
Lottie does. Most times it's just a mouthful or so, but she's has had a couple of power-spews.
She's also been pretty unsettled, both on and off the boob. She'll feed for a little while then just start screaming/pulling at my boob.
I've got scratch marks all over my neck from one of her upset episodes. I get punched/scratched/kicked in the boobs while she's feeding a lot too.

I'm just trying to figure out if this is just a phase/unsettled period, or if it's something I should bring up with our GP (no rashes or temps thank god!).

Pantha - tbh, I reckon that sounds like reflux. Now maybe I just think everyone has it cos Annika does... but arching back during feeds & getting very fussy part-way through is classic reflux. Basically they bring up & then it burns their little esophagus and they cry. Silent reflux can also happen where you don't see them spit, but it travels up inside and same result.
This was a list of just some reflux symptoms I looked at:

• He has continual spilling after feeds, with or without distressed crying.
• There are signs of spilling on his pillowslip or sheet.
• When you pick your baby up from the prone position, he spills a mouthful of milk over you.
• Your baby may grizzle a lot and arch his back in discomfort.
• not to mention spitting up, hiccups, coughing, ruminating (chewing on "something" in mouth a while after feeding - usually a small spit-up)

And of those, this is how I described Annika:

• Lots of spit ups (and yes frequently in bassinet) – after every side, during every change and during every sleep (and every car trip). She is constantly in a bib.
• Hoarse voice
• Semi-constant grizzling during any day sleep... but conversely BEATIFIC sleep if upright
• Grizzles, arches back, fusses a lot on second side. Has been better since I’ve only been giving her the first side each feed.
• Falls asleep at the drop of a hat but can’t seem to stay asleep (particularly during the day – apparently this is reasonably typical of reflux babies) – nearly always falls asleep when being burped on our shoulders and ALWAYS (thank goodness) in the wrap.
• Episodes aren’t predictable... ie.. not same time every day. Often 6-7am – 9am isn’t great... then her “unsettled” patch will start at any time during the day.
• Squeals & cries in a way that sounds to me like she’s in pain – Xander didn’t cry like that. She would be fast asleep then scream like she'd been jabbed in the foot.
• Hiccups & coughing (definitely does both most days)
• What she doesn’t have – HUGE spews, weight loss, feeding aversion.

What you risk if you leave it untreated is that they can develop feeding aversions, so it's worth getting onto. If you do think it's that, talk to your dr. Let me know if you wanna know more about the meds. As Dory said earlier this page, Losec is great, Zantac is ok... but a bit more problematic to get the dose right. They both basically suppress the acid in the tummy but don't actually stop them spitting up. For us, Losec is a lifesaver but we've still had a bit of mucking around to get the right dose & method of giving it. Basically you want a tablet which is halved & dissolved in liquied (1-2ml). Our GP put us on granules, dissolved in 7.5ml of liquid which was a nightmare to get into her! BIg hugs, unsettled babies (& depressed daddies) are TOUGH

Bec - big hugs to you too. For some funny reason s'one warned us about infacol and said that overdoses of it are REALLY common. I think the labelling and that stupid syringe is really confusing myself. I think you did absolutely the right thing. These things happen but at least you picked it up

Hi everyone else, hope you're going well. Oh and Annika weighed yesterday by LC, 6.36kg

[CoNNiE_Melb]

Pantha - I agree that it sounds like reflux. George has silent reflux so he doesnt throw up, but after drinking for a little bit he used to scream during feeds. I could tell he was hungry because he would suck really hard, but after 2 sucks he would scream again. He was also drinking less than normal, and became very irritable. The doctor put him on Zantac which solved all our issues, but because the dosage is based on the baby's weight, every 2 weeks we notice it playing up again - we take him to the GP, she weighs him and adjusts the dosage. Within a day, he is fine again.

As for the PND, just remind yourself that you have got through this before so you can do it again. There's no shame in it and getting help... just do whatever you need to be healthy and feel good about yourself. After getting some counselling I feel 1000 times better than I did in those first couple of months. I feel like ME again, and I needed that so I could bond with George properly.

Bec - I'm sure you'll be fine. He is just down the road and you can call to check in as many times as you like. You may even find you enjoy the time on your own. I know I love when DH takes George out or my mum babysits. Sometimes it feels good to be able to do things without a pram and nappy bag and baby to carry around.

Chuckie - the first few times hurt for me too... actually its still not completely normal. It takes a while before he can go all the way in IYKWIM? I think it's because we're not as lubricated as we used to be, for a while.